Executive Summary:

National Centre for Flexible Electronics (NCFlexE) came into existence formally on 14th

November, 2014 at Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. The centre has been initiated

with an outlay of Rs. 133 crores sanctioned by the Department of Electronics and

Information Technology (DeitY), Government of India and support from IIT Kanpur. The

functioning of the centre will be coordinated by the executive committee headed by the

centre coordinator. The executive committee will operate under the guidance of a national

advisory committee (NAC) that has been set up under the chairmanship of the Director,

IIT Kanpur.

Due to the use of new materials and methods of manufacturing, flexible electronics

represents a break from the past and provides India with a fresh opportunity to become a

significant manufacturer of electronics. Centre’s objectives include development of a

national technology roadmap in coordination with other academic and industrial partners

in the country, establishment of a broad research program that leads to development of a

critical set of electronic components and partner with industry to develop prototypes and

commercialize the technology.

In the first year, NCFlexE has adopted a proactive strategy for publicity and branding to

reach out to the existing and potential industrial partners within and outside India. Three

‘roundtables’ to listen to the relevant industries for inputs, were held at Delhi, Bangalore

and Ahmedabad. A few industry workshops, press meets and other activities to raise

awareness among potential partners on flexible electronics and NCFlexE were organised

at IIT Kanpur. Centre has also actively participated in national and international level

interactions at industrial exhibitions and other events. Till December, 2015, seven calls

for the expression of interest (EOI) were floated for collaborative projects with the

industry. The areas targeted were – anticounterfieting, flexible photovoltaic technologies,

gas sensors, near-field communication tags, OLED for lighting and displays, printable inks

and printed batteries.

In the first year, five companies have signed up for the partnership with NCFlexE with

more than Rs. 1 crore funds for the projects. A project approval mechanism has been put

in place at the centre to approve and monitor proposals for the development and

prototyping activities. Each project is encouraged to involve at least one partner industry.

The proposals are peer reviewed by experts from around the country. Based on the peer

review, a sub-committee setup by the NAC Chairman, approves them.

The building construction and equipment purchase for the centre are on track. In the first

year, after institute space committee approval, building plan approval and construction

tendering, construction started in May 2015 and by the end of the year, the roof of the

ground floor is constructed. The equipment needed for successfully running the centre are

being procured in a systematic matter.

Having started the journey on a firm footing in the first year of its existence, NCFlexE

looks forward to the coming years to grow into an international centre of excellence to

help establish a flexible electronics ecosystem in India.

Table of Content

I Branding & Publicity Activities ......................................................................................................... 6

Industry Membership & Project Approvals: ............................................................................................. 7

Branding and Publicity Activities up to March 2016 ............................................................................... 8

II NCFlexE Projects ................................................................................................................................ 9

PAM Approved Projects ........................................................................................................................... 9

Brand Protection Labels: Phase I: Contact-based Tax Stamp Tags ...................................................... 9

Prototype WOLED based lighting tiles ................................................................................................ 9

Breast cap for detection of breast cancer ............................................................................................ 10

Technology Development for Commercialization of Low Cost Anti-counterfeiting Tags ................ 10

Projects related to EOIs .......................................................................................................................... 11

Synthesis, characterization and formulation of conductive silver nanoparticle (NP) ink for

inkjet printing ...................................................................................................................................... 11

Printed Organic Solar Cells on Flexible Substrate ............................................................................. 11

Flexible sensors .................................................................................................................................. 12

Printed Batteries .................................................................................................................................. 13

Development of Organic Diode Array for Temperature Sensing ....................................................... 14

Development of dielectric inks for printing ........................................................................................ 15

Development of TFT backplane for QVGA flexible AMOLED displays .......................................... 15

Flexible white OLED for lighting and display ................................................................................... 16

III NCFlexE Infrastructure and Manpower .................................................................................... 17

Manpower hiring: ................................................................................................................................... 17

Building: ................................................................................................................................................. 17

Equipment purchase: .............................................................................................................................. 18

IV FUNDED PROJECTS .................................................................................................................. 20

List of Other Projects .............................................................................................................................. 20

V PERSONNEL .................................................................................................................................... 21

Core Faculty @ SCDT .............................................................................................................................. 21

Core NCFlexE Members .......................................................................................................................... 22

VI COMPLETED THESES .............................................................................................................. 24

Ph.D. Theses ............................................................................................................................................ 24

M. Tech. Theses ...................................................................................................................................... 24

VII PUBLICATIONS .......................................................................................................................... 27

Journal Articles ....................................................................................................................................... 27

Conference Proceedings ......................................................................................................................... 29

VIII PATENTS ...................................................................................................................................... 31

IX AWARDS ....................................................................................................................................... 31

I Branding & Publicity Activities

In its first year, NCFlexE activities for branding and publicity included the following

- Personal Networking and References (Corporations, Centres in this field etc.)

- Industry Associations – IESA, ELCINA, AIMED, IPCA, Smart Card

Manufacturers Association, ACMA, FICCI, CII etc.

- Events organized in conjunction with CII, AIMED etc. (Table I)

- Industry Workshops (Table I)

- Sector Wise Roundtables in various cities – Healthcare, Packaging and Printing

etc.

- Govt. organizations – DBT, DST, GITA, CII, etc.

- Attending Workshops and Conferences in relevant areas (Table II)

Table I. Exhibitions and Events – Organized by NCFlexE

Event Date Venue Outcome

Launch and Laying of the

Foundation stone (as part of

Digital India Launch)

1st July, 2015 IIT Kanpur Publicity and awareness

created

Short course on Flexible

Electronics

6-11 July, 2015 IIT Kanpur Awareness & human

resource development

Workshop on Flexible

Electronics

10th July, 2015 IIT Kanpur Publicity and awareness

Roundtable for sensors 22nd September

2015,

New Delhi Awareness created.

Preliminary leads obtained

FLEXE 2015, Industry

Workshop

12th October,

2015

IIT Kanpur Identified several

companies for second

stage discussions

Roundtable - Healthcare 8th December,

2015,

Bangalore Identified potential

partners for Healthcare

and Diagnostics

Roundtable- Flexible

electronics for Healthcare and

packaging

29th January,

2016

Ahmedabad Identified potential

partners for Healthcare

and Diagnostics

Table II. Exhibitions and Events – Attended by NCFlexE

Event Date Venue Outcome

TAITRONICS 6th-9th October,

2015,

Taipei,

Taiwan

Awareness created. Preliminary leads

obtained

AIMED

Roundtable

6th November

2015, New Delhi

New Delhi Contacts established with Medical

Equipment makers

Indo Japan CWG 30th November,

2015

New Delhi Invited Japanese academic and industry

players for possible collaboration

PAMEX 2015 9th-12th

December,

Mumbai Awareness for printing industry

IESA –VS 2016 3-4 February,

2016 at

Bangalore Contacts established with PCB and

Semiconductors manufacturers

Through a combination strategies, websites, industry association mailings, industry

association mass mailings and our own personal networking, we have reached out to more

than 1000 companies in a variety of sectors. In addition to creating awareness about out

focus, the exercise has been useful in gauging the level of demand, indent and

preparedness for the technology in the wider industry circles.

Calls for Expression of Interest (EOI) were prepared for the following focus areas and

widely circulated:

Anti-counterfeiting

Flexible PV

Gas and Thermal Sensors

NFC Tags

Printable Inks

Smart Tags

Printed Batteries

OLED for Lighting and Displays and

Flexible PCB.

Industry Membership & Project Approvals:

Through a series of roundtables and sector wise workshops, we have interacted with more

than a hundred companies specifically for collaboration/co-development. Finally, 28

companies are at the level of second stage discussion

Out of these efforts, we have FIVE Industry members this year (Table III) that have signed

the NDA cum membership document with NCFlexE this year. Projects proposals with

three of them have been written. As per the decided mechanism for project approval

(Annexure 2: Project Approval and Monitoring procedure), the proposals were sent for

external peer review and at least two appraisals for each proposal were obtained. Project

Approval and Monitoring (PAM) Committee met on 13th Oct 2015.

Table III. Industry Partners and Project Approval Status

Sl.

No

Item Activities Status

1 Manipal

Technologies

Security Tags for Packaging Project approved. Ready for

Industry membership. MOU for

project to be signed.

2 Chain

Electronics

Seven segment OLED and

flexible PCB

Membership signed. Project

proposal in progress.

3 Applied

Materials

Processing equipment NDA and Membership agreement

signed.

4 Murata

Manufacturing*

Flexible sensors for breast

cap

NDA signed. MOU under review

for signature.

The total funds committed by these partners in the first year has crossed Rs. 1 Cr.

* Advanced stage of approval of membership.

Branding and Publicity Activities up to March 2016

Table IV. Exhibitions and Events – To be organized by NCFlexE

Roundtable – Packaging, Pharma, PV

and OLED

4th March, 2016 Mumbai/Pune

Roundtable – Healthcare and Medical

Equipment

28th March, 2016 Bangalore/Hyderabad

II NCFlexE Projects

PAM Approved Projects

Brand Protection Labels: Phase I: Contact-based Tax Stamp Tags

Product counterfeiting is a thriving multi-billion dollar global industry and hurt many of

the brands and products badly. There are many anti-counterfeiting solutions available but

either they are not cost effective or can be easily copied. Thus the development of a

printed electronic version of anti-counterfeiting device which offers good anti-

counterfeiting protection while being cost efficient would be attractive to businesses

whose valuable brands or evasion of taxes are constantly challenged.

The basic aim of this project is to address the need of developing anti-counterfeiting

features for protection against spurious products. Another advantage of this development

is towards upgradation of the technology for creating a niche in the market (taking a

strategic lead over competitors). In this genre, this project specifically intends to develop

an additional electronic security feature solution for Tax Stamp labels. The label should

empower the Tax inspector to verify a unique identity by reading the label pasted on the

product using a contact electronic reader. Being a large volume application, it needs to be

manufactured (printed) at a high speed (so that it can be integrated into existing lines for

tax stamp) within acceptable limits of additional cost.

In Phase-I, we are targeting development of tags based on contact reading as an example

of a generic effort towards in expensive tags.

Prototype WOLED based lighting tiles

In India, 16% of the total generated electrical power is consumed for lighting. Still 25-

30% of the total population of India lives without access of electricity (approximate 400

million) and largely depend on the kerosene oil for lighting. Considering the fact that the

present lighting devices have low efficiency (5-20%) and environmental hazards (contain

mercury), there is great potential for substantial energy saving as well as environmental

prtection (by reducing green house gases emission) by switching to more energy efficient

and eco-friendly lighting devices.

Alternative SSL technologies exist that have the potential to compete with the inorganic

white LEDs in the future. These are called white organic light emitting diodes (WOLEDs)

and white polymer light emitting diodes (WPLEDs). WOLED is the only technology that

can create large "area" lighting panels (as opposed to point or line lighting enabled by

LEDs and Fluorescent bulbs). These OLED devices are made by amorphous polymers

semiconductors that can be deposited on large area, flexible and lightweight substrates and

offer significant advantages as polymers can be directly processed from solution by spin

coating, ink-jet printing, and blade coating. WPLEDs can be made using roll-to-roll

printing process with high throughput which reduces the cost of the lighting panels further

for general lighting application. OLEDs can be used to

make flexible and transparent panels, and can also be color-tunable. OLEDs emit soft

diffused light - in fact OLED lighting is the closest light source to natural light (with the

exception of the old incandescent lamps).

The objective is to develop prototype WOLED lighting tile on glass that can be arranged

to make flexible luminaires. In the second phase, the technology will be transferred to

flexible substrates.

Breast cap for detection of breast cancer

It is reported that by 2020, 70% of the world’s cancer cases will be in developing

countries, with a fifth being in India. The previous year, the Indian Council of

Medical Research provided an analysis of cancer cases among women in various cities

- Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Bangalore from 1982 to 2005, showing that until about

10 years ago, 10 per 100 000 women got breast cancer, compared with 23 per 100 000

now; and by 2020, breast cancer is set to overtake cervical cancer as the most common

type of cancer among all women in India

There is a need for early detection of the disease for facilitating effective

remedial measures. This has been highlighted in a recent case study conducted in India

which found that women in developing countries survive roughly 10 years shorter after a

breast cancer diagnosis compared to women in developed countries, and a reason for this

among others is late detection. A vast population not having an easy access to the

diagnostic centers, due to the prohibitive costs and to the locational issues, adds to the

burden of the disease in India. According to a 2008 WHO report, there is one doctor

for every 10,000 Indians. Moreover, in cities, 80% of India’s medical staff works in the

private sector.

The objective of the work is to develop a low-cost breast cap using flexible temperature

systems capable of providing the skin temperature mapping of the breast to be analyzed

using algorithms for detecting abnormalities attributed to breast cancer. A successful

technology could help make breast cancer diagnosis accessible and affordable.

Technology Development for Commercialization of Low Cost Anti-

counterfeiting Tags

Counterfeiting is a continuously increasing problem, especially in the developing

world. In one case, counterfeit books, CDs, electronic equipment, or consumer

durables in general are available which impacts the business conditions in the country.

The other case is even more serious, which involves fakes in foods and

pharmaceuticals, creating an additional health risk. So manufacturer, producer and even

end users want a high level of security to protect their products. The World

Customs Organization reported that approximately 6% of global goods are fake. In

many cases, it is very difficult to identify counterfeit goods from genuine ones.

We are identifying counterfeiting of medicines as the most severe risk, hence focus of this

work would be on development of anti-counterfeiting strategies in general and

for medicine packages in particular.

Objectives

To develop and demonstrate a physical method of printing on a package that

(a) has potential to prevent or severely mitigate counterfeiting of the packages (not the

contents inside),

(b) offers verifiability in the hands of consumer without a need to carry an extra

detector or access to communication networks,

(c) Is produced with bill of materials below Rs. 1 per tag.

Projects related to EOIs

Synthesis, characterization and formulation of conductive silver nanoparticle

(NP) ink for inkjet printing

A tremendous interest in printable electronics has been developed in the last decade which

is also evident in the literature. Printed electronics refers to the fabrication of electronic

circuits and devices using printing process, especially on flexible substrate.

Conventionally, manufacturing of electronic devices can only be realized by expensive

multistage processes such as photolithography, vacuum deposition, and electro less

plating. These processes are not eco‐friendly and create mostly toxic and hazardous

chemicals. The motivation behind the printed electronic is to create large scale

manufacturing of electronic devices in a faster and cheaper way. Inkjet printing is very

attractive method for manufacturing organic solar cell electrode, RFID tags, OTFT,

flexible LEDs and displays. Inkjet printing is favorable for automation and enables

patterning with high resolution line and space dimensions can be small as 20 micron. Due

to the complex nature and very challenging requirements for inkjet inks, preparation of

such inks is often very complicated. The ink must meet out the physicochemical

requirement of print head such as viscosity and surface tension.

Objectives

a) Development of methodology for making stable conductive metal nanoparticles

(Ag/Au/Cu).

b) Ink formulation of conductive inks using suitable solvent preferably eco‐friendly

solvent

c) Process development for inkjet printing and sintering.

d) Performance development of the printability over flexible substrates like

paper/PET/PEN/PI using inkjet printer.

e) Development of business plan for the low cost conductive inks as a commercial product

Printed Organic Solar Cells on Flexible Substrate

Organic solar cells use organic semiconductors for the active layer of the solar cells. They

have the potential to be manufactured on a large scale at low cost per unit. With proper

product development, the fabrication process and the products developed may be

ecologically friendly. Moreover, their fabrication on flexible substrate such as appropriate

plastics or paper can help implement solar modules that are lightweight, can be conformal

to the structure on which they are mounted and may be folded or rolled up for ease of

storage and transportation.

In this project, we will be building organic solar cells on flexible substrates such as paper

or plastic (PET) by the printing techniques. Some of the main challenges in this project

will be developing a printing process and the inks needed for that to build the solar cell; to

design the sub-modules and test them effectively for efficiency and stability; and to build a

stable process line so as to fabricate sub-modules of size 10 cm × 10 cm or more that have

efficiencies above 3% which last for at least six months.

Objectives

The primary objective would be to develop a printing technology that will allow us

to print an organic solar cell sub-module onto a flexible substrate such as paper or

plastic.

Another objective would be to develop sub-modules of size at least 10 cm x 10 cm

on a substrate size of 15 cm x 15 cm and integrate them with chips / circuits that

will help charge a battery or deliver power to any suitable and practical electrical

load.

Another objective would be to work with industry partners to integrate the sub-

module of appropriate size on a system to form a commercial product.

Flexible sensors

(i) Sensors for detection of heavy metals in water

Providing clean drinking water to the population has become an increasing challenge with

depletion of water sources and pollution of water bodies. The pollutants in the water can

be broadly classified as metals, organics and pathogens with a large variety of species in

each of these classes and the pollutant profile could be area specific. The types and

concentrations of these pollutants have increased, all leading to serious health

consequences. There is a need for monitoring the quality of the water at all stages, from

the source till the end user. The goal of the proposed activity is to develop low-cost

chemical sensors for detecting pollutants in drinking water. The market for these sensors

not only includes the general populace, but also the regulatory agencies and the water

purification industry. Initial focus would be on detection of heavy metal (e.g. cadmium,

chromium, manganese, arsenic) ions.

Objectives

1. Generate the knowledge, by formulating and executing pertinent research

problems, as provided in the proposed work modules, needed to design and

fabricate a sensor for detecting heavy metal ion pollutants in water

2. Setting up of the design specifications for the FlexE team to develop the device.

(ii) Breathalyzer for non-invasive disease diagnostics

Exhaled breath while primarily comprises nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide and water

vapor (75%, 16%, 4%, and 4% by volume, respectively), also contains trace levels of other

gases which can be markers of the disease status. For example, acetone could indicate

diabetes, ammonia could indicate kidney problems, toluene could indicate lung cancer.

The use of breath analysis is a promising field for non-invasive detection. However, the

breath analysis poses significant challenges to specifically identify components at low

detection limits.

Objectives

1. Generate the knowledge, by formulating and executing pertinent research

problems, as provided in the proposed work modules, needed to design and

fabricate a breathalyzer.

2. Setting up of the design specifications for the FlexE team to develop the device.

(iii)Disease diagnostics from body fluids

Biomarkers present in body fluids (blood, saliva, urine) can indicate the pathological

condition of the body. For example: blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine are

biomarkers for impaired renal function, levels of the prostate specific antigen are

biomarkers for prostate cancer. Detection of disease biomarkers in the fluids can be

utilized for early disease detection. Also, these can be used to monitor the response to

therapies.

Utilization of microfluidics based platforms has the potential of rapid and low-cost

detection techniques with point-of-care applications, which could be very relevant to the

Indian context.

Objectives

1. Generate the knowledge, by formulating and executing pertinent research

problems, as provided in the proposed work modules, needed to design and

fabricate a microfluidic sensor array.

2. Setting up of the design specifications for the FlexE team to develop the device.

Printed Batteries

Every electric device needs to be powered. Low-cost, wearable, flexible electronics e.g. in

the form of smart watches, sensors embedded in clothing, activity trackers, and health-

monitoring tags are anticipated to be widely adopted. Future generations of these devices

would be thin, conformable to the human body, ubiquitous, and almost imperceptible to

the user. Powering these devices while retaining their mechanical properties will be a

challenge.

Batteries are essential for powering portable electronic devices. A battery is a closed

system in which energy is stored in chemical form, and it is converted to electrical energy

by connecting the battery to an external load to complete the circuit, causing electric

current to flow between the anode and cathode.

The standard batteries (coin cells, can cells etc.) are bulky and do not provide

the flexibility in shape and design required by new printed electronics. By printing the

battery itself too, all advantages of the printed, flexible electronics can be utilized.

An electrochemical cell consists of active layers supported on conductive substrates

(current collectors) to form the anode and cathode of the battery. The electrolyte provides

ionic contact between the electrodes and helps to complete the redox reactions within the

cell. Printing processes such as screen, stencil, and blade printing are well established and

they can be used to deposit battery components by designing printable inks for the active

layers, current collectors, and electrolyte. Batteries fabricated using printing processes

have the advantage of low cost, flexible form factor, ease of production, and integration

with electronic devices. The term “printed battery” is used to describe a battery for which

at least one of the components is solution processed and deposited using a printer.

Objectives

development of printed batteries

development of free – form batteries / printed on demand

development of disposable batteries

Development of Organic Diode Array for Temperature Sensing

Temperature is a fundamental physical parameter that needs to be measured for a wide

range of applications. Low cost temperature sensor arrays are required for applications

ranging from electronic skin, biomedical thermal imaging, and structural temperature

monitoring. Organic electronics offers the prospect of high density of sensors through

monolithic fabrication on flexible and cheap plastic substrates. There are a number of

ways of realizing a temperature sensor using organic materials including resistors,

transistors etc. Resistors have the advantage of being simple but in an array their

density is limited by the requirement of direct addressing where each sensor has its

own individual set of external terminals. Transistor based temperature sensors can be

used to fabricate an active matrix type large sensor array but they are more

complicated to fabricate and are likely to be expensive as well. Although, Silicon

Diodes are widely used for sensing temperature, there are very limited reports of use of

organic diodes for this purpose. Diodes offer the prospect of building a fairly large

array of sensors through passive addressing scheme and represent a solution that is

intermediate between simple direct addressed resistive array and complicated transistor

based active matrix array. The aim of this research proposal is to develop a sensitive

and reliable organic semiconductor based diode temperature sensor and a proof-of-

concept 3 x 3 passive matrix array.

Objectives

1. Development of an organic diode based temperature sensor in the range 0-50 oC on

glass substrate using spin coating/vacuum deposition techniques

2. Development of proof-of-concept 3 x 3 sensor array with associated external

readout electronics

3. Development of a of fully inkjet printed diode and its evaluation as a

temperature sensor

Development of dielectric inks for printing

The proposal is aimed at developing dielectric inks for various printing processes and wide

range of applications such as printed TFTs, RC component in smart tags and as printed

insulators in flexible circuits.

This project will investigate various polymer dielectrics properties and their ink properties

with different solvents for printing applications. Phase I of the project will aim at

developing polymer dielectric inks of different properties as per specific application and

printing process. In phase II, nanostructure – polymer composite dielectric inks will be

developed for enhanced properties.

Dielectric inks development will be in-line with specifications of various components

under development at FlexE (such as printed TFTs) and prototypes (such as RC circuits in

smart-tags).

Objectives

Dielectric inks are integral component of printed and flexible electronics. Development of

dielectric inks would be in two phases

Objectives of Phase – I

i. Processing of polymer dielectric inks with different solvents

ii. Study repeatability, and stability of the inks using MIM structures.

iii. Rheological study of inks and formulation as per printing process specifications.

iv. Ink-jet printable dielectric inks with specifications as per application(s).

Objectives of Phase – II

i. Study of dielectric properties of nanoparticle – polymer composites.

ii. Stability and repeatability of composite dielectric inks.

iii. Ink formulation for different printing processes (such as ink-jet, screen, slot-die

etc.)

iv. Tuning of dielectric properties of ink as per application(s).

Beyond the 2-year period (October 2017), ink properties will be continuously upgraded to

follow a roadmap based on internal requirements and international standards.

Development of TFT backplane for QVGA flexible AMOLED displays

Indian market for hand-held display devices is poised for a steep growth. Currently

smartphone user penetration is only at 17% of Indian population, in contrast to > 40% in

China. Even if a small fraction of hand-held devices go flexible, overall volume for such

devices in India will be huge. In absence of a technology know-how in this field, chances

of indigenous manufacturing of flexible display devices are very meagre. Absence of

technology and skilled manpower will also act as a barrier for foreign industries to

manufacture in India. Furthermore, various technology components developed in the

course of this project, i.e. flexible TFT backplane, flexible thin film encapsulation (TFE),

top emission OLED, substrate handling solutions, and process integration can be

disseminated to the manufacturing of other flexible electronics devices, such as TFT

technology for circuits and backplane for sensors, memories, imager etc. and TFE for any

flexible electronics device susceptible to moisture. Therefore, this project will serve as a

foundation to many other flexible electronics applications.

In this project we will develop a flexible AMOLED display fabricated on a polymer

substrate with metal-oxide TFT backplane and OLED frontplane technology. The project

involves bringing together technology groups mainly involved in TFT arrays, barriers and

encapsulation, and OLED development in order to achieve a monolithic integration of

backplane and frontplane on a polymer substrate. Driver IC integration and flexbonding

expertise will be inherited from the passive matrix OLED display project earlier executed

by SCDT.

Objectives:

Flexible AMOLED display is a technology integration project involving various

components being developed in the FlexE Centre. This project will serve to following

objectives:

1. Development of metal-oxide TFT backplane technology

2. Development of top-emission OLED frontplane technology

3. Developing thin film barrier and encapsulation

4. Developing flexible substrate handling solution (bonding/debonding)

5. Display driving infrastructure

Flexible white OLED for lighting and display

The traditional sources of lighting are incandescent bulbs and florescent tubes with

luminous efficiency of 15 lm/W and 90 lm/W, respectively. Solid state lighting is

considered the next generation lighting technology because of its improved efficiency and

life-time, but technological breakthrough is required to reduce its cost. There are two

approaches – inorganic LEDs (GaN based) and white organic LEDs (WOLEDs).

Inorganic LEDs have a definite advantage of high efficiency (at device level), and life

time, but they are still very costly when one compares the equivalent luminaire cost

(INR/kLm) of lighting. This is why WOLED is considered a good alternative, but

considerable improvement of efficiency, lifetime, and cost is required. Internationally, EU

(EUROPE), DOE (USA) and Japan are funding several OLED lighting projects. There

have been few commercial products, by Osram and Philips, introduced at efficiency less

than 20Lm /W, although the highest efficiency reported is >100 Lm/W.

R&D on WOLED at Flex-E center will continuously work on the following aspects:

1. WOLED stack (for evaporation and for solution processed devices) with two

objectives: maximize device efficiency and minimize the cost of substrates,

coatings, organic compounds

2. Light extraction techniques

3. New device structures: transparent WOLED for building integrated lighting

There will be efforts to find possible products along the way and to improve

manufacturability of WOLED for commercialization.

There will be WOLED sub-teams in the Flex-E center to (i) reduce the BOM, (ii) improve

OLED stack for thermal evaporation on flexible substrate, (iii) improve OLED stack for

printing techniques, (iv) increase light extraction (v) develop encapsulation to enhance

life-time, (vi) design novel products.

III NCFlexE Infrastructure and Manpower

Manpower hiring:

Substantial progress has been made in the area of team building. The COO joined the

centre in May, 2015. Three team leaders (RE) have already joined the team and started

contributing significantly to the development activities. More candidates have been

identified and interviewed to fill the remaining positions. Project staffing is also well

under way. In summary, about 60% staffing is now complete.

Building:

The ground clearing work started in May, 2015. During excavation, there were several

challenges faced related to underground cables which were diverted before excavation

could proceed. Since then, work progresses rapidly and the plinth level Foundation work

has now been completed. The sequence of photographs below shows the development of

the construction of the building. Construction is on schedule and target completion is by

Dec 2016.

Equipment purchase:

The equipment list was divided into 2 phases based on immediate requirements as well as

the space availability. Some of the equipment, which are large in size and needed at a later

stage, were moved into Phase II category (to be in line with the completion of the new

clean room in the new building).

Summary: First phase Equipment defined and orders being placed.

Academic Report

2015-2016

IV FUNDED PROJECTS

List of Other Projects

Sl.

No.

Project Name Funding

Agency

Amount

(Rs. In

Lakhs)

Duratio

n

Project

Investigator

01 Design and Development of of

Organic Solar Cell sub-Modules

MNRE 663.52 2011-

2015

Dr. S.S.K. Iyer

02 Research and Development of

InGaZnO4 (IGZO) Large Area

Electronics and its Application to

Active Matrix Flat Panel Display

DST 686.95 2011-

2014

Dr. Deepak

Gupta

03 Organic/ Polymer Light Emitting

Diodes Fabrication and

Characterization

DRDO 10.00 2012-

2014

Dr. Y.N.

Mohapatra

Dr. Ashish

04 Stand –off detection of explosives

based on immunochemical

Techniques

Office of

the

Principal

Scientific

Advisor

Governm

ent of

India

567.00 2011-

2014

Dr. Siddarth

Panda

05 Flexible Printed Integrated

Disposable Electronics

(FLEXIPRIDE)

Indo-

German

Science &

Technolo

gy Centre

107.25 2012-

2015

Dr. Y.N.

Mohapatra

Dr. B. Mazhari

V PERSONNEL

Core Faculty @ SCDT

Sl

No

Name Department Designation

01 Dr. Deepak Gupta MSE, SCDT Professor

02 Dr. Y.N.Mohapatra Physics, SCDT Professor

03 Dr. B.Mazhari EE, SCDT Professor

04 Dr. Monica Katiyar MSE, SCDT Professor

05 Dr. S.Sundar Kumar Iyer EE, SCDT Professor

06 Dr. Siddhartha Panda CHE, SCDT Professor

07 Dr. Anshu Gaur MSE, SCDT Assistant Professor

Deepak Gupta Professor, Materials Science and Engineering Experience Ph.D., Materials Science and Engineering, UC Berkeley, 1993 Argonne National Laboratory, Motorola, IIT Kanpur Research Interest Organic Semiconductors, Displays, Electronic and Optical Materials

Y. N. Mohapatra Professor, Physics and Materials Science Programme Experience Ph.D., IISc, 1988 IIT Kanpur Research Interest Semiconductors, electronic and photonic , materials, OLED/PLED

Baquer Mazhari Professor, Electrical Engineering Experience Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, U. Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1993 Research Interest Organic Semiconductors, Semiconductor device modelling and analog circuits

Monica Katiyar Professor, Materials Science and Engineering Experience Ph.D., Materials Science and Engineering, U. Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1994, Motorola, IIT Kanpur Research Interest Organic Electronics(OLED/OTFT),Printable Electronics Thin Films, Material Characterization

S. Sundar Kumar Iyer Professor, Electrical Engineering Experience Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, UC Berkeley, 1998 IBM Microelectronics (NY), IIT Kanpur Research Interest Organic solar cells, Photovoltaic systems, Printable electronics, VLSI technology, devices and circuits

Siddhartha Panda Professor, Chemical Engineering Experience Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, U. Houston, 1999 IBM Semiconductor R&D Center, IIT Kanpur Research Interest Chemical sensors, Lab-on-a-chip, Micro/nano fabrication, Microfluidics, Materials processing for microelectronic and display technologies

Anshu Gaur Assistant Professor, Materials Science and Engineering Experience Ph.D., Materials Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, 2008 Applied Materials Inc., USA Research Interest Electronic and opto-electronic materials, thin films, device physics, carbon based nanostructures

Core NCFlexE Members

# Name Department Designation

01 Dr. Sudhindra Tatti SCDT Chief Research Engineer & COO

02 Dr. Ashutosh K Tripathi SCDT Sr. Research Engineer & Team Leader

03 Dr. S.J. Tripathi SCDT Sr. Research Engineer & Team Leader

04 Dr. Ashish SCDT Sr. Research Engineer & Team Leader

Dr. Sudhindra Tatti Chief Research Engineer Experience PhD:: MSE, UT, Austin, 1989 PEGASUS SEMICONDUCTOR, AmberWave Systems, Chartered Semiconductor, SubMicron Technology, MOTOROLA Research Interest Organic solar cells, Photovoltaic systems,

Dr. Ashutosh K Tripathi Senior Research Engineer Experience PhD: Physics, University of Stuttgart, Germany (2008) Holst Centre, Netherlands Research Interest: Organic and oxide semiconductors TFTs, Flexible Electronics (flexible displays, TFT backplane technology, flexible circuits, NFC etc.)

Dr. Sabine Juliane Tripathi Senior Research Engineer Experience PhD: Chemistry, TUD, Germany 2006 Holst Centre, Netherlands IFW Dresden,Germany Research Interest: Flexible Electronics, Thin film Batteries, Electrochemical Sensors, R2R Processing

Ashish Gupta Senior Research Engineer, Experience Ph.D.(Chemistry) University of Allahabad, 2004 Research Interest: Conjugated Polymers & Nanomaterial Synthesis

VI COMPLETED THESES

Ph.D. Theses

1. Polymer blend based white light emitting diode: Study of electrical and optical

characteristics, Asit Prakash, (MSE), 2016

2. Effect of electric-field annealing during solvent drying step of active layer in

organic solar cell devices, Anirban Bagui, (PHY), 2015.

3. Annealing in the presence and absence of electric field of copper phthalocyanine

based thin films and their applications in organic solar cells, Anukul Prasad Parhi,

(PHY), 2015.

4. Trap Controlled Charge Processes in Organic Semiconductors Studied using

Transient Techniques, K Sudheendra Rao, (PHY), 2014

5. Charge particle beam interaction with matter from a perspective of lithography,

Mihir Sarkar, (PHY),2014

6. Study of nanomagnetism in NiO single layer and Co/Cu multilayer films, Mr.

Vikram Verma, (MSE), 2014.

7. Opto-electronic analysis of planar, bulk and hybrid planar-mixed heterojunction

organic solar cells, Suman Banerjee (PHY), 2014

8. Surface engineering and flow characteristics in pressure driven silicon based

microfluidic immunosensors, Ramchander Chepyala (ChE), 2014

9. Carrier Transport in Organic Semiconductor Diodes with Doped/Undoped

Interfaces, Durgesh Chand Tripathi (PHY), 2014

M. Tech. Theses

2015

1. Thin Film Formation and Morphology of Organo-Lead Halide Perovskite suitable

for Solar Cells, Raghunandan B. Iyer, (MSP),2015

2. Effect of encapsulations on the steady and transient response of thermal sensing

nanoscale PANI-CSA films, Hima Suram , (ChE), 2015

3. Fabrication of temperature sensorusing conducting polypyrrole film

deposited on flexible substrate, Aprita Saha , (ChE), 2015

4. Fabrication of Polymer Memories Based on P(VDF-TrFE) and its Blends,.Amruth

C, (MSP), 2015

5. Correlation between Dark & Light Characteristics of Bulk Hetero-Junction

Organic Photo-Voltaic Cells, Mohd. Imamuddin, (EE),2015

6. Simulation Dual Gate Ion Sensitive Field Effect Transistor, Abhay Prakash Tiwari,

(MSP), 2015

7. Optimization of parameters for sensing glucose in sandwich immunosensors using

screen printed electrodes, Mr. Mohd. Ibrahim Faruqi, (ChE), 2015

8. Fabrication and Characterization of CZTS Nanocrystals, Ink and Thin Films for

Solar Cell Applications, Baloji Adothu, (MSE), 2015

9. Time Dependent Studies on P3HT:PC60BM and PTB7:PC70BM Organic Solar

Cells, Jyoti Yadav , (EE), 2015

10. Effect of annealing poly 3-hexylthiophene layers in the presence of pulsed electric

field, Anshik Gangwar, (EE), 2015

11. "Study of suitability of four imidazolin-5-one derivatives for active layers in

organic solar cells, Raghav Gupta, (EE), 2015

12. Vanadium Pentoxide Nanostructures: Growth Kinetics, Synthesis and

Characterization, Sujata Senapati, (ChE), 2015

13. Compact Modelling Approach for Organic Thin Film Transistors, Aditya

Upadhyay ,(EE), 2015

14. Analysis of Photo-Response of Top-Contact OTFT, Smriti Kumari, (EE), 2015

15. Extraction and Modeling of Threshold Voltage of Organic Thin Film Transistors,

Swati Tiwari, (EE), 2015

16. Study of suitability of four di-keto-pyrrolo-pyrrole derivatives for active layers in

organic solar cell, Kumar Saurav, (EE),2015

17. Simulation and Modeling of Organic Light Emitting Diodes, Raja Kirana Saraba,

(EE), 2015

2014

18. Effect of Various Reaction Conditions on Aminosilane Thin Films Formed on

Silanol Terminated Silicon Surfaces, Pranay Mehta, (ChE), 2014

19. Fabrication of Vertically Aligned Nanorods of Zinc Oxide on Si/SiO2 Substrate for

Sensing Membrane in Electrolyte-Insulator-Semiconductor Sensors, Harsh

Vardhan, (MSP), 2014

20. Temperature Sensor Using Organic Diode, Nitin Kumar, (EE),2014

21. Organic photodiode array for image scanning applications, Naimatullah, (EE),

2014

22. Light and Temperature Sensitivity of High Injection Barrier Diodes, Anupam

Kumar, (EE), 2014

23. Analysis of Photo-Response of Top Contact Organic Thin Film Transistors,

Anurag Dash, (EE), 2014

24. Implementation of Organic Resistor and its application as temperature sensor,

Amit Barjatya, (EE), 2014

25. Graphitic Carbon Nitride (g-C3N4): Synthesis and Characterization of Bulk and

Thin Films For Device Applications, Vivekanand Shukla, (MSP), 2014

26. Simulation of an OLED device, Balasubrahmanyam E, (MSE),2014

VII PUBLICATIONS

Journal Articles

2016

1. Effect of the electric field during annealing of organic light emitting diodes for

improving its on/off ratio, Rahul K. Sharma, Monica Katiyar, I. V. Kameshwar

Rao, K. N. Narayanan Unni and Deepak, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys, 18,

2747-2755, 2016

2. Effect of aging of V 2 O 5 sol on properties of nanoscale films, S Senapati and S

Panda, Thin Solid Films , 599, 42-48, 2016

3. Correlation of Capture Efficiency with the Geometry, Transport, and Reaction

Parameters in Heterogeneous Immunosensors, Dharitri Rath and Siddhartha Panda,

Langmuir, 32 (5), 1410–1418 2016, 2016

4. Signal Amplification in Field Effect-Based Sandwich Enzyme-Linked

Immunosensing by Tuned Buffer Concentration with Ionic Strength Adjuster,

Satyendra Kumar , Narendra Kumar and Siddhartha Panda, Appl Biochemistry and

Biotechnology, 2016

5. Trap Kinetics in Solution-Processed Organic Thin-Film Transistors, Subhash

Singh and Y. N. Mohapatra, IEEE ELECTRON DEVICE LETTERS,37, 1, 2016

6. A Current-Induced Channel Organic Thin-Film Transistor, A. Gangwar and B.

Mazhari, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, 63,1 , 2016

2015

7. Channel Pinchoff Near Drain in Top Contact Organic Thin-Film Transistor, Ashish

K. Agarwal, Rajesh Agarwal, and B. Mazhari, IEEE ELECTRON DEVICE

LETTERS, 36,9, 2015

8. Enhanced pH sensitivity over the Nernst limit of electrolyte gated a-IGZO thin

film transistor using branched polyethylenimine, Narendra Kumar, Jitendra Kumar

and Siddhartha Panda, RSC Adv, 6, 10810–10815, 2015

9. Solar Photovoltaic Energy Harnessing, S. Sundar Kumar Iyer, Review, Article in

Proceedings of the Indian National Science Academy,"81,4,100-1021, 2015.

10. Understanding the formation of PEDOT:PSS films by ink-jet printing for organic

solar cell applications, Arjun Singh, Monica Katiyar and Ashish Garg, RSC Adv.,

5, 78677-78685, 2015

11. Origin of intrinsic ferromagnetism inundoped antiferromagnetic NiO

thin films, Vikram Verma and Monica Katiyar,J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 48,

235003 (10pp), 2015

12. Zeta potential and Reynolds number correlations for electrolytic solutions in

microfluidic immunosensors, R Chepyala, S Panda, Microfluidics and

Nanofluidics, 18 (5-6), 1329-1339, 2015

13. Effects of thickness, dopant type and doping levels of flexible nanoscale

polyaniline films on responses to gases, M Sinha, S Panda, Materials Research

Express, 2 (7), 076401, 2015

14. Highly sensitive explosive sensing by "aggregation induced phosphorescence"

active cyclometalated iridium(III) complexes , Alam, P., Kaur, G., Kachwal,

V., Gupta, A., Roy Choudhury, A., Laskar, I.R. Journal of Materials

Chemistry C, 7, 21, 5450 -5450, 2015

15. Low temperature annealed amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (a-IGZO) as a

pH sensitive layer for applications in field effect based sensors, N Kumar, J

Kumar, S Panda, AIP Advances, 5, 6, Article No.67123 , 2015

16. An organic device with thin film transistor merged with light emitting diode

through use of an accumulation layer in TFT as an electrode, A Gangwar, B

Mazhari, ECS Transactions, 67, 1, 199-204, 2015

17. Growth and characterization of nanocrystalline CdSe thin solid films, Singh, A.K.,

Deo, S.R., Deshmukh, L., Pandey, G.P., Singh, R.S., Gupta, A., Research on

Chemical Intermediates,42 , 2, 535-548, 2015

18. Sensitivity enhancement mechanisms in textured dielectric based Electrolyte-

insulator-semiconductor (EIS) sensors, N Kumar, J Kumar, S Panda., ECS Journal

of Solid State Science and Technology, 4,3, N18 -N23, 2015

19. Structure of clusters of pentacene molecules and their polarizabilities, Divya,

Tankha, A., Prasad, R., Deepak, Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids, 76,

184 – 194, 2015

20. Sensitivity Enhancement of Electrolyte–Insulator–Semiconductor Sensors Using

Mesotextured andNanotextured Dielectric Surfaces, Subham Dastidar, Abhishek

Agarwal, Narendra Kumar, Vivekananda Bal, and Siddhartha Panda, IEEE Sensors

Journal, 15, 4, 2039- 2045 2015

21. Enhanced capture efficiencies of antigens in immunosensors, D.Rath and

Siddhartha Panda, Chemical Engineering Journal, 260, 657-670, 2015

2014

22. Interface morphology driven control of electrical properties of P(VDF–TrFE) and

PMMA blend M–I–M capacitors, Deepa Singh, Deepak, Ashish Garg, Organic

Electronics, 15,3811-3817, 2014

23. S. M. H. Rizvi, P. Mantri, and B. Mazhari, Traps signature in steady

state current-voltage characteristics of organic diode, Journal of Applied Physics,

115, 24, 2014

24. K. Sudheendra Rao and Y.N. Mohapatra, Open circuit voltage decay transients and

recombination in bulk-heterojunction solar cells , Appl. Phys. Lett. 104,203303,

(2014).

25. Mihir Sarkar and Y.N. Mohapatra, Self-aligned electron beam lithography of

metallic layer sandwiched in a polymer multilayer: Facilitation of vertical organic

transistor fabrication, Microelectronic Engineering, 115, 16-20, (2014).

26. Nanda Shakti, Asit Prakash, Tapendu Mandal, Monica Katiyar, Processing

temperature dependent morphological and optical properties of ZnO nanorods,

Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing, 20, 55–60, 2014.

27. K. Sudheendra Rao, Y.N. Mohapatra, Disentangling degradation and auto-

recovery of luminescence in Alq3 based organic light emitting diodes, Journal of

Luminescence, 145, , Pages 793–796, 2014.

28. Anirban Bagui , S. Sundar Kumar Iyer , Increase in hole mobility in poly (3-

hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) films annealed under electric field during the solvent

drying step, Organic Electronics 15, 1387–1395, 2014

29. N. Nagarajana, Asit Prakashb, G. Velmurugan, Nanda Shakti, Monica Katiyar,

Corresponding author contact information, P. Venuvanalingama, Corresponding

author contact information, R. Renganathana, Synthesis, characterisation and

electroluminescence behaviour of π-conjugated imidazole–isoquinoline

derivatives, Dyes and Pigments, 102, 180–188, 2014

30. Mihir Sarkara, b, Y.N. Mohapatra,Self-aligned electron beam lithography of

metallic layer sandwiched in a polymer multilayer: Facilitation of vertical organic

transistor fabrication, Microelectronic Engineering, 115, 16–20,2014.

31. Natarajan Nagarajan, Gunasekaran Velmurugan, Asit Prakash, Dr. Nanda Shakti,

Monica Katiyar, Ponnambalam Venuvanalingam,Rajalingam Renganathann,

Highly Emissive Luminogens Based on Imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine for

Electroluminescent Applications, Chemistry - An Asian Journal, 9 (1),294-304,

2014

32. Deepa Singh, Ashish Garg, Deepak, Cooling rate controlled microstructure

evolution and reduced coercivity in P(VDF–TrFE) devices for memory

applications, Organic Electronics, 15 (1), 82–90, 2014

Conference Proceedings

2015

1. Study of charge carrier mobility and electroluminescence performance in polymer

blend based white light emitting diodes Asit Prakash, Monica Katiyar, 2015, MRS

Spring meeting, San Francisco, USA 2015.

2. Variations in spectral response behaviour in single layer organic

solarcells with active layer thickness and bias”, Sandeep Kumar and S.

SundarKumar Iyer, Proceedings of 42nd Photovoltaic Specialists Conference

June14-22, 2015, New Orleans, LA, USA, ieeexplore.ieee.org

3. “Optimization of MoO3 buffer layer thickness for short circuit currentenhancement

in Ag nanoparticle incorporated CuPc solar cell”, DevikaKataria and S. Sundar

Kumar Iyer, Proceedings of 42nd PhotovoltaicSpecialists Conference June 14-22,

2015, New Orleans, LA, USA,

4. “Persistent photocurrent quenching study in TIPS-Pentacene Organic Thin Film

Transistor”, Subhash Singh and, Y.N. Mohapatra, Procedings in ICMAT-2015 ,

28th June, 2015 to 3rd July, 2015 at Suntec, Singapore.

5. Role of sulfide treatment on electrical properties of contacts on magnetron sputteed

ZnO thin films, Shikha Srivastiava and Y.N Mohapatra, Procedings in ICMAT-

2015 , 28th June, 2015 to 3rd July, 2015 at Suntec, Singapore.

6. Photocapacitance –Voltage Characteristics of Organic Bulk Heterojection Solar

Cell, Upkar Verma and Y.N. Mohapatra, Proceeding of ICOE-2015, from 15-18

June, 2015 at Erlangen, Germany.

7. Label Free Prostate-Specific Antigen Detection using Electrolyte Insulator-

Semiconductor Device, Narendra Kumar and Siddhartha Panda, MRS Spring 2015,

from 6-10 April, 2015 at San Francisco, Carlifornia, USA

8. Tubable Sensitivities and Selectivities of Hierachical Polyaniline Nanostructures

Grown on Flexible Substrates for Sensing Difference Gases, Mousumi Sinha and

Siddhartha Panda, AIChE Annual meeing at Atlanta, GA, USA

9. Enhancement of current efficiency of white polymer light emitting diode by

blending of electron transport material, Asit Prakash, Monica Katiyar DAE-BRNS

conference on Organic Devices: The Futrure Ahead (ODeFA - 2014), March 3-6,

2014, Bhabha Atomic Research Center Trombay Mumbai 400085, India

10. White polymer light emitting diode for lighting -An Overview, Asit Prakash,

Monica Katiyar, International conference on energy efficient LED lighting & solar

photovoltaic systems 27-29 march -2014, IIT Kanpur

11. Improvement of rectification ration of organic light emitting diodes by electrical

biasing during annealing, Rahul K. sharma, Deepak, Monica Katiyar, ICMAT,

Singapore, 28 June 2015-03 July 2015

12. Light extraction from organic light emitting diodes - a review, Rahul K. Sharma,

Deepak, Monica Katiyar, International conference on energy efficient LED

lighting & solar photovoltaic systems 27-29 march -2014, IIT Kanpur

VIII PATENTS

1. An apparatus for shadow-mask deposition and method thereof”, Anukul Prasad

Parhi and S. Sundar Kumar Iyer,EE, 201611002575, 22-01-2016, 2016

2. Utilizing glove box ante-chamber for electric-field annealing purpose, Anirban

Bagui, Anukul Parhi, and S. Sundar Kumar Iyer, EE, 33/DEL/2015

6/1/2015, 2015

3. An Organic Devices with thin film transistor merged with light emitting diode

through use of an accumulation layer in TFT as an electrode, Ankita Gangwar and

B Mazhari, EE, 708/DEL/2014, 12/3/2014, 2014

IX AWARDS

Dr. S. Sundar Kumar Iyer awarded SBI Chair Professor at IIT Kanpur (2015)